Bangladesh 1993-1994 Demographic and Health ... - Measure DHS

Figure 5.1Trends in Proportion of Women Never MarriedFor Age Groups 15-19 and 20-24, Selected Sources,Bangladesh, 1975 to 1993-9450Percent Never Married403020101975 1 g83 1985 1989 1991Year1993-94Source: Table 5.25.3 Marital ExposureMarital status refers to the current status of women, while marital exposure refers to the proportionof time women spend in marriage. Data on this topic are presented in Table 5.3, which shows the percentageof months in the five years before the survey that women spent in a marital union. The table is based oninformation collected in the five-year, month-by-month calendar of births, marital status and contraceptiveuse that was asked of all women interviewed. ~ Tbe percentage of months married incorporates the effectsof age at first marriage, marital dissolution through divorce or widowhood, and remarriage.Overall, women spent 75 percent of time in marriage over the five years prior to the survey. Asexpected, the proportions are much lower for women age 15-19 (28 percent) and 20-24 (79 percent) than forthose in their late 20s and 30s, when women spend over 90 percent of time married. By the time womenreach their late 40s, they have spent slightly less time in the previous five years in a marital union (86percent), probably due to increased widowhood.There are significant differences in marital exposure by residence and education level, especiallyamong younger women, reflecting the effect of delayed marriage among some subgroups. For example, theproportion of time in the five years before the survey that women 15-19 spent married was almost double inRajshahi Division (36 percent)what it was in Chittagong Division (19 percent). Similarly, women age 15-19with no education spent 42 percent of the months in the five years before the survey in a marital union,compared to only 12 percent for women with secondary or higher education. As age increases, differencesby background characteristics are reduced, since almost all women are in marriages for most of the time.Data for women age 10-14 have been excluded, since such a small proportion have married.73